Sylvanvale – Document Management

The Sylvanvale team were working from Network drives. Outside the office, people could only access the network via Remote Desktop, logging in to their on-premises computer before accessing their emails or documents. It was a disconnected experience that made remote work frustrating and time consuming.

To address this, Sylvanvale were in the process of updating their document management technology, moving documents over from the network drive to OneDrive. Some teams were starting to use Teams to store documents but without proper strategy or governance.

The project team needed assistance to identify the best strategy for document management moving forward, to plan and execute the larger document migration and to educate the team to use it effectively.

WebVine conducted a series of in-depth workshops to assess workflow needs, security and access. We then helped the Sylvanvale team assess their document storage platform options, resulting in the selection of Microsoft Teams. The basis for this decision was largely around existing workflows and alignment with Microsoft’s strategic direction.

Working closely with the business owners, WebVine established an appropriate Teams structure, implementing Dynamic Groups to automatically connect user permissions to their department or specific role. We then managed the migration of 2 terabytes of organisational files including Word, Excel, PDFs and images.

Key to the ongoing success of this project was the development of a Teams governance approach, documenting the governance framework moving forward and ensuring all settings reflected this approach. This was then followed by an education piece, ensuring the Sylvanvale project team were equipped to train and support their colleagues on the new interface, especially considering the wide range of digital ability within the organisation.

After a successful migration, the Sylvanvale team can now easily access essential documents and resources remotely via Teams. While user education and adoption is an ongoing process, early adopters are particularly enjoying the ability to open and collaborate on a document via chat or video call in the same application, reducing context switching.

The use of Teams Dynamic Groups has significantly reduced administration for IT, and improved security by linking access to Active Directory settings rather than requiring manual updates for new starters or changes of role.

The Governance Committee act as information champions within the organisation, with funding and decision-making authority. New feedback mechanisms enable the committee to stay on top of user experience and act when necessary.

Strong leadership support has been instrumental in the success of the project, with the CEO and COI of Sylvanvale attending each meeting and communicating the strategic importance internally.

“From a file migration to a business transformation, using WebVine’s expertise we were able to turn document storage into a collaboration and efficiency project which has now changed the way we work at Sylvanvale for the better”

– Leanne Fretten,  Chief Executive Officer